"Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops, like bishops, and your religious act like religious." - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, 1972

Saturday, May 18, 2019

A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS

On November 2018 two different, but in many ways similar incidents occurred

at two different schools on our island of Guam.

One happened at the George Washington High School.

The other took place at the Mt Carmel Catholic Middle School.

In both cases, the incidents involved minors having inappropriate relations with adults who should have been trusted with their care and well being.

Without going into the disturbing details, the incidents at George Washington High School resulted in the suicide of two teenagers, while at the Mt Carmel Catholic Middle School, the extent of the damage has not reached that level yet, Lets hope it never does.

In both cases the trust that was put in the adults who we suppose have the best interests of our children was betrayed.

Yet as of now the ways both the Guam Department of Education, and the Department of Catholic Education have handled both cases, are standing in Polar opposition.

I have gone along two different articles this week over the very dismal reaction of the Catholic administration, in regards to the allegations at Mt Carmel.

For those who are interested in more details, you can consult the interviews, and interview attempts of several of the actors involved below and judge for yourselves.

In contrast to this culture of silence that smacks in total opposition to the very public positions of the Archbishop on the subject of child abuse; the director of the Guam Department of Education, has granted interviews, where he is as forthcoming as possible, and has taken immediate administrative measures to allay the concerns of parents, as related to his administration.

The contrast could not be more evident between one administration, which clearly is very embarrassed by what led to the suicide of these teenagers,but is willing to investigate; and the other administration return to the darkest days of the Apuron reign.

Why do we have this eerie feeling of "Deja vu, all over again"?

As I said on many occasions, when Archbishop Byrnes first arrived on our shores, he benefited of a huge thirst by the faithful for a new era of honesty and leadership.

Basically Catholics of this island had a need for the antithesis of everything Apuron ever stood for.

So when Archbishop Byrnes started meeting many of the catholic groups from Guam, there was great hope that, as he seemed to listen intently to everyone, that positive change would prevail.

One of the suggestion that the Archbishop failed to follow and/or act upon was that he enact a clear and definite break with everything related to the old administration.

In its stead he chose to keep many of, for lack of a better explanation, what could be called the deep state of the Apuron machine of corruption.

This is how we ended up with the likes of Tony Diaz, Fr Jeff, Msgr James, in key positions in his administration.

This is why he kept the same assistant than Apuron, believing honestly that all these actors had seen the light, and turned a page for the better.

So far, this analysis seems to have erred.

Again I will underline that the task facing him was herculean, at best.

The pass chosen to deal with these issues, was certainly not the wisest.

One of the most obvious issue is the lack of any actions in regards to the NCW.

Beside naming a Deacon, as Vicar to the NCW, and a few reassignments of some of their presbyters, nothing positive has happened on that front. One could even argue that the situation on the ground might be even worse that it was upon Apuron's departure.

But a whole article about this would be necessary.

Surprise of all surprises it would seem that the NCW is very involved in the alleged coverup of the Mt Carmel Child illegal custody/ possible kidnapping/ongoing relationship between an adult and a 12 years old. I am choosing not to cover this further until more verified information can be made available.

One thing seems to be clear: it is that wishing to have a better and different result with the same people that participated in, and abetted the Apuron administration, turned out to be a foolish endeavour.

Lets hope that our leadership will come to terms with this truth.

Notes: I have sent official questions to Tony Diaz for clarifications about the many grey areas in this very disturbing case at Mt Carmel. So far I have only received a receipt from Tony Diaz that he received my questions. I shall keep you posted if and when the communication office of the Archdiocese find it agreeable to let us know their side of the story. It should be very revealing of what is and what is not happening at the Chancery.

May the Holy Spirit guide Archbishop Byrnes in the right passage.

St Michael the Archangel protect us in battle.

Most Holy Apostle St Jude Thaddeus, friend of Jesus, I place myself in your care at this difficult time

Dear Anonymous at 7.25pm, thank you for your testimony.Unfortunately, you are one of many people that have given us similar testimonies over the years.It is a very sad reality and a well kept secret of the Neocatechumenal way.Many members live in fear of what could happen to them.Several former high ranking members of the way, who have left, told us of having their life destroyed by the NCW.Here on Guam the founder of this blog has been on the receiving end of a nasty and well coordinated attack campaign against his reputation and professional life.If not for his strong faith, and the numerous prayers for his safety,they would have succeeded in their destruction campaign.

Dear Archbishop Byrnes, Msgr. Jeff, Archdiocese Spokesman Diaz, New Superintendent of Archdiocese Catholic Schools, and religious superiors: I implore you to please read and follow the newly revised and clarified norms just published in this past week's Umatuna on mandatory abuse reporting from the Vatican and Pope Francis, himself. Pay close attention to the norms that stipulate: "Leaders will be held accountable not only with suspected cases of committing abuse themselves, but also accusations of having interfered with, covered up or failed to address abuse accusations they were aware of."-- Many of us are aware of the mandated "reporting system and procedural training regarding sexual abuse that took place in the past year throughout the diocese. Please respond to the inquiries from the media and the community about this case at Mt. Carmel as mandated by this new document and the 2016 document, "As a Loving Mother", on transparency and accountability of bishops and religious superiors.

We are counting on you to change the way our church leaders have responded in the past to sexual abuse in our diocese. In conclusion, as the pope reminds us, "The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful."